2020 Festival: First Speaker Announced

With the current situation still so uncertain, we would like to reassure you of one certainty: our intention is still to hold our annual festival – our 28th – one way or another. We have already almost finalised the programme and to illustrate our determination, we are announcing one of our speakers here and now!

The Poet Laureate Simon Armitage will be joining us in October – to talk about his latest magnificent collection Magnetic Field.

The rest of the line-up is also exceptional which is why we are actively exploring ways in which the Festival can go ahead, either in its traditional form, digitally or in a hybrid version.

Naturally we will continue to monitor the situation closely and take advice from all of the experts and our stakeholders, including the Cedars Hall staff, our loyal supporters and potential audience members. Other festivals throughout the country are adopting a similar approach to ours, keeping plans flexible and afloat for the time being whilst at the same time following Government guidelines and taking our responsibilities very seriously.